Happy New Year! We had a busy and fun end of 2022! We are in such a busy but fun season of life. The big kids are at such fun ages, and Brody is in full-blown toddler mode, but he is so cute and hilarious. Every day is fun, exciting, energetic, loud, and exhausting! Here is a wrap up of our last couple of months in 2022.
November
IU Games
Now that life is semi-back to normal, we have been fully taking advantage of living in a college town. We’ve been attending lots of IU basketball games – both women’s and men’s games. The women’s team is awesome this year, and I am good friends with one of the coach’s wives, so we’ve been enjoying the games and the behind the scenes of Assembly Hall (my dream!)
Random Snow Day
One random Saturday in early November, we woke up to SNOW. The kids had fun playing in the snow and sledding for most of the day! They were sad when the snow started melting a couple days later, so I was quick to remind them that plenty more snow (typically more than desired) will come in the coming months.
Polar Express in French Lick
I’ve wanted to take my kids to do the Polar Express for so long, but before this year, I didn’t feel comfortable with it because of Covid. But this year, we were so excited to finally get to do it! We had such a fun time with Ryan’s family in French Lick! We all wore different Christmas pajamas, and Ryan wore a full Grinch costume. People thought he was part of the show and kept coming up to him to get their picture taken with him!
Birthday Date Night
For my birthday this year, I told Ryan all I wanted was a date night with him. And he delivered! He got us SECOND ROW tickets to see Aladdin the Broadway show!! Saying it was AMAZING is an understatement. It was truly an incredible show – especially to see up close. We spent the evening at the Bottleworks Hotel in downtown Indy and enjoyed our night out on the town!
Thanksgiving
Ryan worked this year on Thanksgiving, but we were grateful to still have family nearby to spend it with. We started out at Ryan’s cousin Nicole’s house. She lives on a farm, so the kids were THRILLED to run around chasing goats and catching chickens!
After Thanksgiving lunch with Ryan’s family, we went to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner with my family. We had two wonderful Thanksgiving meals and loved time with family!
Kick-off to Christmas Time
The evening after Thanksgiving, we went to downtown Indy to see the lights around Monument Circle light up. It was very crowded, but luckily, my brother-in-law works in a building right next to Monument Circle, so he took us up to his office and we could see the lights from there! Once the crowds cleared out, we went back down to get a closer look and take pictures. It was a fun night!
Here is our 1 Second Everyday for the month of November…
December
Children’s Museum
We went to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum for my nephew’s 4th birthday with a group of cousins. The kids had a blast!
Chicago Weekend
For my sister-in-law’s birthday, we all went to Chicago for the weekend. We loved exploring the city. One of the highlights was taking Kinsie to the American Girl Place. She was so happy to have some special girl time!
Later, we went to a really cool event called “Harry Potter- Magic at Play.” It was basically an interactive Harry Potter journey. It was a lot of fun! The kids loved experiencing the journey of becoming a Hogwarts student – doing spells, playing Quidditch, and more!
Christmas Season
Christmas time is our favorite. We love all of the magic leading up to Christmas!
We didn’t get around to making our cookies until after Christmas, but we still enjoyed making them! The kids also enjoyed making an Encanto gingerbread house.
Rocket the Elf
Our buddy Rocket came back for year 2 of scout elf fun! The kids got extra attached to him this year, so he surprised them with an extra day after Christmas, and they could touch and hug him. They LOVED it! They were still really bummed when his time was up, so he promised them that he would make appearances throughout the year for other holidays.
Here is a quick video showing Rocket’s adventures this year!
Christmas Eve
Somehow we got Ryan home for Christmas Eve AND Christmas day this year! Our hearts were full! On Christmas Eve, we went to Ryan’s aunt’s house for dinner and gifts.
Christmas Morning
We had another magical Christmas morning. The kids loved all their gifts! After we did our own gifts, we drove to my parents’ house to have Christmas with my family.
Christmas Day
We enjoyed dinner and gifts with my family. But the rest of the time, the kids had a blast playing with all their new toys and playing sports competitions on Nintendo Switch. It was a wonderful day!
New Year’s Eve
After Christmas, we spent most of the next week chilling at home. It was actually really nice! The kids stayed busy with all their new toys and gifts. I think Braxton built about 5 Lego sets that he got for Christmas! For Christmas Eve, we just stayed in as a family. We made a kid-friendly charcuterie board for dinner. The kids had the best time helping make and arrange the food!
After dinner, we had a glow-in-the-dark dance party like we did last year. We put a black light in the workout room and included glowing balloons, glow sticks and music. And Rocket came back for a night of fun too!
After the dance party, Brody went to bed, but the big kids stayed up. We played Apples to Apples and Nintendo Switch until it was time for the countdown. By the time midnight came around, Ryan and I were tired, but they were WIRED. It was a fun night!
Here is our December 1 Second Everyday…
And here is our 1 Second Everyday video for the year of 2022. They added some new features to the app, and I love the way this video turned out! Enjoy!
And that’s a wrap for 2022! This year seemed to fly by…maybe because life went back to normal. It was nice to be able go out and about again. We are excited to see what 2023 brings!
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